“I always wanted to learn to fly, but I never did. The Wright’s refused to teach me and tried to discourage the idea. They said they needed me in the shop and to service their machines, and if I learned to fly, I’d be gadding about the country and maybe become an exhibition pilot, and they’d never see me again.” (Charles E. Taylor, My Story. As told to Robert S. Ball,1948)
On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright completed the world’s first successful flight of a powered, heavier-than-air flying machine carrying a man at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. What is lesser known about this pivotal moment in aviation history is that this flight would never have taken to the air had it not been for the Wright’s mechanic, Charles E. Taylor, the first aviation mechanic in powered flight who is credited with designing and building the 12hp engine that successfully carried the Wright Flyer aloft.
The Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award is named in honor of Charles E. Taylor and recognizes the lifetime accomplishments of senior mechanics in the aviation maintenance industry. It is the most prestigious award issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to persons certified under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The award recognizes individuals who have exhibited professionalism, skill, and aviation expertise for at least 50 years in the aircraft maintenance profession as “master mechanics.” To be eligible for the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award, nominees must:
- Hold a U.S. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) or Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mechanic or repairman certificate.
- Have 50 or more years of civil and military maintenance experience.
- Up to 20 years of the required 50 years may be U.S. military experience; or worked as an uncertified person in a U.S. aviation maintenance facility that maintained U.S. registered aircraft, either domestic or overseas; or worked as an uncertified person in the aircraft manufacturing industry in the United States, producing U.S. type-certificated or U.S. military aircraft.
- The 50 years may be computed consecutively or non-consecutively.
- Be a U.S. citizen.
- Have NOT had any airman certificate revoked. Revocation of any airman certificate will disqualify a nominee for this award.
After the application is reviewed and eligibility requirements are met, recipients are issued a distinctive certificate and lapel pin. Once the award has been issued, the awardee’s name, city, and state are added to a published ‘Roll of Honor,’ located at www.faasafety.gov.
Aircraft Maintenance Technicians (AMTs) play a critical role in aviation that often goes unnoticed. While pilots and flight crew often take the spotlight, it is the AMTs who work tirelessly on the ground to ensure that every aircraft is safe, airworthy, and ready to take flight. These unsung professionals possess an outstanding set of technical skills, knowledge, and experience that the aviation industry could not function without. The work of an AMT is demanding and often takes place under challenging, high-pressure conditions and long work hours. Whether a routine inspection, maintenance, or an immediate repair, AMTs are ready to respond to time-sensitive emergencies on the spot, with little, if any, notice.
In a recent correspondence with Charles Taylor II, the great-grandson of Charles E. Taylor, he referred to Azriel ‘Al’ Blackman, an AMT Crew Chief based at JFK International Airport, who in July 2022 was celebrated for his 80 years of service with American Airlines and who holds the Guinness World Record for having the longest career as an airline mechanic. Mr. Blackman graduated from Aviation High School, then located in Manhattan, and he began his career at age 16, working for American Export Airlines, the predecessor to American Airlines. He received the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award in 1997.
“Remember, the key to success of a Charlie Taylor recipient, is to start early enough and live long enough. Blackman is almost at his second Charles Taylor Award!” (Charles Taylor II, personal communication, April 15, 2024)
As of April 2024, over 3,470 aviation mechanics are on the FAA’s Roll of Honor and have been awarded the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award. A large majority of them have, and continue to, serve as mechanics at airports and airfields in the New York metropolitan region.
John Facilla – Awardee, March 2022
While growing up, John Facilla’s father took him many times to JFK Airport to watch the aircraft movement and activity on the ramp area. The more he visited the airport, the more interested he became in aircraft activities.
In the eighth grade, his guidance counselor advised him to attend a specialty or trade high school. The counselor mentioned Aviation High School, and he applied and was accepted. After graduating in June of 1970, he completed the training for licenses in 1971 and immediately started work for small charter companies, working on different models of DC-8 aircraft. In 1973, he was hired by Eastern Airlines at JFK and worked there until March 1989, working on the B727, L1011, A300, and B757 aircraft. Facilla also worked in the engine overhaul support shop on RB211 engines to support the L1011 fleet.
In June 1989, due to a strike at Eastern, Facilla started working with American Airlines, which received new A300-605 model aircraft. Since Eastern was the only U.S. carrier flying A300s, American took full advantage of hiring experienced Airbus technicians for their new fleet of aircraft. A year later, a new position opened at American’s tech crew department. Facilla applied, interviewed, and was accepted into the department. He remained in the position until retiring in March 2018. During his 30 years at American, he worked on many aircraft in the fleet, such as the B727, 737, 757, 767, 777, the A300, A320 series, the DC10, and MD11.
While at American, in 1997, Facilla was also an adjunct instructor at the College of Aeronautics in Queens, NY, now Vaughn College, teaching courses in Avionics for over 25 years. After retirement from American he became an adult Aviation Maintenance instructor at Wilson Tech’s Aviation Facility on Long Island.
“While at Wilson Tech, I completed my 50th year working in the aviation industry. Diana Santiago told me that she was submitting the paperwork as a candidate for the Charles Taylor Award. I was speechless and did not know what to say. I finally got the words ‘thank you’ out, but never even thought I would be eligible for such a prestigious award,” said Mr. Facilla. (John Facilla, personal communication, April 14, 2024)
A few months later, Facilla learned he would get the award. Since he completed his 50th year at the Wilson Tech campus, he received the award there. The award ceremony and presentation was attended by FAA safety inspector Mike Torns and his team, along with co-worker, Evita Garces, who holds the position of Vice President Line Maintenance for American Airlines; the first woman to hold this position within the company. “Another interesting event at the award ceremony was that Mike Torns made my wife, Josephine, a part of the presentation,” said Facilla.
At the ceremony, Torns commented that without Mrs. Facilla’s enormous sacrifices, dealing with her husband working weekends, holidays, and on different shifts, that she be awarded recognition and he presented her with a special pin. “All parties involved, the staff of Wilson Tech, the inspectors from the FAA, Ms. Evita Graces, and co-workers from American really made this occasion a very special and memorable event, and one that will not be forgotten,” added Mr. Facilla.
John Q. Gilbert – Awardee, September 2019
In 1952, at the age of seven, John Gilbert’s family relocated to Brooklyn from their home in South Carolina. John graduated from East New York High School in 1963 with a Technical Diploma in Aviation Technology. The following October, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and graduated from Chanute Air Force Base as a Multi-Jet Engine Aircraft Technician on March 24, 1964, at 19. Assigned to Loring Air Force Base, Maine, in the 42nd Organizational Maintenance Squadron, an attachment of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) 42 Bomb Wing, John was assigned to three different Vietnam temporary duty assignment missions between 1964 and 1966. Aircraft participated in air refueling missions to cover U.S. fighters and bombers flying in the theater of operation. He was promoted to KC-135 Crew Chief and honorably discharged in October 1967.
Shortly after, Pan American Airlines hired him as an aircraft cleaner at JFK International Airport and promoted him to mechanic’s helper. As a licensed A & P and Radio Technician, Gilbert also worked in the Pan Am Avionic Department. In 1987, he was promoted to work in the Maintenance Control Operation (as a Repetitive MEL Supervisor) and remained in that position until Pan Am declared bankruptcy in December 1991. He remained in his position and was asked to answer phone calls until January 1992. Some two months later, “I started another path on my journey within the commercial aviation industry, working with Northwest Airlines Technical Operations Department in Minneapolis, accepting a position within the company’s Maintenance Control Operations as a Maintenance Operations Technical Representative (MOTR). My position required that I examined repetitive aircraft system faults and design specific troubleshooting and corrective action procedures for the problem, “said Gilbert; he held the position until July 1997 and was promoted to Northwest’s Line Maintenance Manager for Newark (EWR) and Philadelphia (PHL) Airports, a position that he held until retirement from the company in 2005. In September of that same year, North American Airlines, a contract charter operation, hired him as Manager of Maintenance Control until the company’s bankruptcy in 2013, whereupon he officially retired.
Then, in November 2017, Gilbert was offered a position at JetBlue as an Aircraft Records Coordinator, where he remained until fully retiring on December 31, 2023. On September 19, 2019, he received the Charles Taylor ‘Master Mechanic’ Award. “The Tech Ops Department at JetBlue sponsored the food and accommodations to hold the FAA ceremony where I could accept the Charles Taylor Award, for which I’m honored and eternally grateful,” said Mr. Gilbert (John Q. Gilbert, communication, March 31, 2024 )
John J. Goglia – Awardee, March 2017
The Hon. John J. Goglia recalls how proud he was when he got his Airframe and Powerplant Certifications after graduating from East Coast Aero Tech in Bedford, Massachusetts in 1963. With his A&P license in hand, he signed on for his first job as a mechanic for United Airlines. “New York has always been special to me because that is where I started my career at United Air Lines at JFK Airport. It was during the Jet Age, and jets were just starting to be worked on. Getting up to the line and working on a jet airplane was always a thrill for us young guys stuck in the hangar,” said Mr. Goglia in a recent interview with Metropolitan Airport News.
Mr. Goglia worked for United at JFK until the airline laid off several mechanics in 1965. He went on to work for the airline in Washington, D.C., and then onto Baltimore. In between that time, he married a girl from Boston who was very close to her family in Massachusetts. Wanting to move back home to Massachusetts, Goglia searched for the only job he could find in Boston as a mechanic, and he was hired by Allegheny Airlines. “I went with Allegheny, and it actually changed my career because Allegheny treated their maintenance people a lot differently than United, and so I grew with Allegheny over the course of the next 30 years. They gave me freedom, and I ended up doing a lot of jobs that typically a mechanic for other airlines may never get to do…on the quality side, on special projects, as an inspector, a crew chief, all kinds of jobs within the maintenance department.”
Allegheny went through several mergers with Lake Central, Mohawk, Pacific Southwest Airlines, and then Piedmont. Goglia got on a committee over people assigned to work the mergers before they took place, doing many tasks, other than turning wrenches, to bring the two companies together.
In the course of his career, Goglia worked on many types of aircraft, starting with the DC-6, DC-7, 8, 9s, Convairs, Caravelles, 720s, 727s, 747s, and the BAC-One Eleven. He also worked the non-scheduled side of the house. “I had two jobs, looking for extra income… with three kids, and I worked the Lockheed air terminal.
When Allegheny became U.S. Airways, some of the unique jobs Goglia had took him to Washington, D.C. He worked with the FAA for several years, reviewing flight safety and maintenance rules. This work got him noticed and allowed him to put his name in for a position with the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board). Shortly after Goglia received a call from the White House and was subsequently Presidentially-appointed under the Clinton Administration as an NTSB Board member, serving in that role from 1995-2004.
John Goglia received the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award after 53 years as a certificate holder in March 2017. At the time, he was promoting other people for the award. He said, “When you do that, you tend not to make accolades for yourself. It was secretly done behind my back, so I was surprised with the award at a competition I run called the Aerospace Maintenance Competition which took place a few years ago. My family flew down, and it was a big event. They had me crying.”
Goglia reflected upon how FAA national resource specialist, the late Bill O’Brien, pushed hard to get the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award in place and how O’Brien really made it happen through his dogged determination and keeping it alive until somebody in the FAA thought it was a good idea and moved it forward. “Mechanics just do their job…a mechanic’s attitude is “see problem, fix problem, next problem,” said Golia, adding, “The Award is very important for the mechanics in general because it is one of the few forms of recognition that you have for a career, an unblemished career, because if you have problems with enforcement, you’re not going to get it. You have to have a clean record. It’s a tribute to what you’ve accomplished over the course of your career.”
Editors Note: The author thanks Charles Taylor II, Ken MacTiernan, and Joshua Lang for their assistance with this article.
National Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) Day
Considered the ‘Father of Aviation Maintenance’, Charles E. Taylor is celebrated each year on May 24, the day of his birth, which is now ‘National AMT Day’. In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the resolution to establish a national day honoring Charles E. Taylor’s birthday. The resolution passed in 2008, and National AMT Day was officially recognized as a day to honor the contributions of AMTs everywhere.
